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The Name's Craig, Daniel Craig


The producers of the James Bond movies confirmed today (Friday) that they had chosen 37-year-old Daniel Craig to be the next 007 -- out of some 200 actors around the world -- and had signed him to a three-film contract. The relatively unknown actor told a London news conference, "It's a huge challenge. Life is about challenges and this is one of the big ones as an actor." Earlier in the year he had expressed misgivings about the script for Casino Royale, which is due to begin filming in January, saying that if he were offered the role he'd want "the emotional level" of the script to change, "but I don't know how ready they'd be to change." At today's news conference, Craig said that he wanted to take the Bond movie "somewhere maybe where it's never gone before." He did not elaborate, but director Martin Campbell remarked that the film will be "a bi(t) darker" with "more character, less gadgets." He added: "This will be tougher and grittier, and there's a terrific part for the girl and the relationship Bond has with the girl is probably a much more serious one than we've had in the past."